TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
Justin Verlander had a 6.6 pitching WAR, the best in baseball in 2016.
Now that the 2016 regular season is over it is time to take a look at the American League starting staffs and see how the teams acquired their starting pitchers. In this case I am only going to look at pitchers that started 10 or more games for their teams. Several of the pitchers appear on more than one team.
This past season there were 95 pitchers in the American League that started 10 games or more games for their teams. The wild card winning Baltimore Orioles and the worst team in baseball Minnesota Twins each had eight pitchers with at least 10 starts, on the other end of the spectrum the wild card winning Toronto Blue Jays and the 69 win Oakland A’s each had only five starters with 10 or more starts.
Byron Buxton hit the first pitch of the game for an inside-the-park home run and the Twins went on to defeat the White Sox, 6-3. The only other player who hit an inside-the-park homer to lead off the first inning of a game for his team this season was Buxton’s teammate at the time, Eduardo Nunez, who did it for Minnesota on June 2 against the Rays (in the bottom of the first).
The Minnesota Twins officially announced with a Press Release what has been rumored for some time and that is that Derek Falvey will fill the new role of Chief Baseball Officer. Here is the official Press Release:
Carlos Rodon racked up 10 strikeouts in leading the White Sox to a 7-3 victory over the Twins at US Cellular Field yesterday. The Minnesota Twins loss was number 103, the most losses the team has suffered since they started play in 1961. Rodon began his outing by striking out the first seven Twins batters to face him. His streak of seven consecutive strikeouts to open the game tied the longest such streak for any American League pitcher to begin a start. The other AL pitcher with a game-opening streak of that length also did so for the White Sox. Joe Cowley struck out the first seven Rangers batters he faced for the White Sox on May 28, 1986, in Arlington. Rodon struck out the side to end his previous outing on Sunday against the Indians. Rodon’s 10 consecutive strikeouts spanning his last two starts is tied for the longest strikeout streak by any pitcher over the last 50 years.
The Twins defeated the Royals at Kauffman Stadium yesterday, 7-6, ending their streak of 11 straight games scoring three or fewer runs. That was the longest streak of that kind for any major-league team this season, and it tied the longest within one season for the Twins since they moved to Minnesota in 1961. The Twins had another 11-game streak of that kind in August (8/6-8/15) 1970. However; that 1970 team went on to win 98 games before losing to the Orioles in the ALCS.
Kennys Vargas‘s two-run homer in the sixth inning of the Twins’ 5-2 loss to the Royals ended a dubious streak for Minnesota. Entering that inning, the Twins had gone 106 consecutive innings without scoring multiple runs in an inning (dating back to September 15), the longest streak in the majors since the 1942 Phillies had a 109-inning streak of this type from May 23 to June 3. The Phillies finished that season with a record of 42-109 (.278). Only three teams have had a lower winning percentage in a season since then: the 1962 Mets (40-120, .250), 2003 Tigers (43-119, .265), and the 1952 Pirates (42-112, .273).
The 1982 Minnesota Twins 60-102 season has been on the books for a long time as the Twins team with the most losses but that does not necessarily make them the worst team in Twins history. The Twins 2016 team is almost a cinch to break the record of 102 losses in a single season but like the 1982 team that does not mean they are the worst Twins team ever. Both teams had some very good players but in both cases their pitching staff was substandard or young and the position players were just starting to come into their own as major league players. The average age of the 1982 team was just barely over 25 years of age, the 2016 team by comparison has the youngest average position players in the league at 27 but the pitching staff is middle of the pack with and average age of just over 28.
Tonight the Twins are in Kansas City to play the Royals and they have a chance to lose game number 102 but the Twins will send their best pitcher (Ervin Santana) to the mound so they can put off the inevitable for another day.
The Twins loss number 102 back in ’82 took place on the final day of the season, Sunday, October 3 with White Sox starter LaMarr Hoyt facing off against Twins starter Brad Havens. The Chicago White Sox were in third place and the Twins occupied the cellar of the AL West a full 32 games out of first. Only 5,085 Twins fans paid t0 enter the Metrodome that day to watch this meaningless game but how many were actually there is probably another story.
The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth inning when the Tony La Russa led mighty whities put three runs on the board against the lefty Brad Havens on a home run by Tom Paciorek and a single by Marc Hill that scored two more. Havens day ended in the top of the sixth after he gave up a walk, a double and a ground out that scored the fourth run for the Sox. Twins manager Billy Gardner had seen enough and brought in reliever Paul Boris who got of the inning but allowed another run to score on a ground out and going into the bottom of the sixth inning the home town Twins were down 5 to zip. The Twins finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning when Gary Ward had an infield single that scored Bobby Mitchell who had singled to lead off the inning. The White Sox added a run in the top of the eighth inning when Twins killer Harold Baines took Paul Boris deep to lead off the inning. Hoyt who would go on to pitch a complete game and win his league leading 19th game retired the first two Twins in the ninth before Greg Wells tripled bringing DH Randy Bush to the plate but he grounded out to the second baseman and Brad Havens and the Twins took the defeat. The game lasted all of 2 hours and 5 minutes and it was “wait until next year” for the Twins and their fans.
LaMarr Hoyt
The bearded LaMarr Hoyt was an interesting player to be sure, the following season he went on to win a league leading 24 games and take home the 1983 Cy Young award. In 1985 he found himself in San Diego where he was named the NL starting pitcher in the 1985 All-Star game at the Metrodome that the NL won by a 6-1 score and Hoyt was credited with the victory by allowing no earned run in 3 innings. By 1987 the 32-year old Hoyt was out of professional baseball due to problems with drugs. More info on Hoyt.
Rusty Kuntz who was the White Sox center fielder that day went on to play for the Twins in 1983 and tonight you will find him in Kansas City coaching for the Royals, I wonder if he remembers this day from back in 1982?
By the way, September 28 has been a very interesting day in Minnesota Twins history so please don’t forget to check it out on our This Day in Twins History page before you leave.
The rumors started Monday afternoon and Rhett Bollinger posted on Twinsbaseball.com that Cleveland Indians assistant GM Derek Falvey is headed to Minnesota to become the teams new Head of Baseball Operations. Nothing is official as the Twins organization has made no announcement but with the Indians clinching the AL Central title last night the official announcement could be imminent.
I was listening to Pat Reusse yesterday afternoon on AM 1500 when he had Indians broadcaster Tom Hamilton on as a guest and they talked about Derek Falvey. Since the deal is not official Hamilton could obviously only speak from a what if scenario. He did say however; that Falvey works very closely with manager Terry Francona and his staff and would be a great fit for the Minnesota job. Then again, what would you expect him to say?
Here is what the Cleveland Indians 2016 media guide has on Derek Palvey.
Derek Falvey
Derek Falvey is 33 and is in his ninth season as a member of the Cleveland Indians organization and first since being appointed Assistant General Manager on Oct. 6, 2015. He spent the previous four seasons as Director of Baseball Operations after being named to the position in December of 2011.
As Assistant General Manager, Derek assists Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff in all areas of baseball operations, including financial, statistical, and contractual dealings, and contributes to all aspects of professional and amateur player procurement and development. He also oversees the Advance Scouting process and works closely with Terry Francona and the Major League Coaching Staff to assist in the day-to-day management of Major League operations.
Falvey’s tenure with the organization started in November 2007 when he began an internship in Baseball Operations. In his first three years with the club, Derek assisted both the Amateur and International Scouting Departments before spending the 2011 season as Assistant Director of Baseball Operations.Derek played baseball at Trinity College in Hartford, CT where he earned a degree in economics in June 2005. After graduating, Falvey returned home to the Boston, MA area where he worked until joining the Indians in the fall of 2007.
Derek Falvey is married (Meghan) and they have a son named Jack.
The Miami Marlins announced yesterday that 24-year-old pitcher Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident in Miami. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Fernandez family and friends at this sad time. RIP Jose Fernandez and thank you for the memories.
Nelson Cruz hit a pair of home runs in the Mariners’ 4-3 win as they handed the Twins their 100th loss of the season yeserday. Brian Dozier‘s 42 home runs are the most in one season by any player in major-league history for a team that lost at least 100 games. The only other 100-loss teams that boasted a player with at least 40 home runs were the 1923 Phillies (50-104, Cy Williams, 41 HR), 1930 Phillies (52-102, Chuck Klein, 40) and 1977 Braves (61-101, Jeff Burroughs, 41).
